November 18, 2001	Sunday	Ramazan 2, 1422

KOLKATA, Nov 17: The communist government of the eastern Indian state of West Bengal said Saturday it will introduce its own bill to fight terrorism as the federal government struggled to gain consensus on similar legislation.

The Prevention of Organised Crime Ordinance (POCO) will be introduced in the legislature during the winter session beginning on December 7, Probodh Chandra Sinha, West Bengal’s minister for parliamentary affairs, said.

“POCO has been drafted with the aim to effectively combat terrorism and organised crimes like kidnapping,” Sinha said.

“The ordinance was necessitated by the escalation in crimes leading to a new and disturbing situation in the state,” Sinha added.

The announcement came as Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and his cabinet number two, Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani, met chief ministers of India’s 28 states and five union territories, to persuade them to adopt the Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance legislation.—AFP